Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Abigail and the Mittens

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that though Christmas 2008 is now but a fading memory and a stack of credit card bills, you might still like to see my Christmas knitting.

Child's mittens, two, of the "warm woolen" variety. Cheaper than bright copper kettles or cream-colored ponies, and easier to wrap than schnitzel with noodles. Also, you can start a pair of these on the 16th of December and not sweat the finish line. I was done by the 20th.

The free pattern they're based on is here. I found it through Ravelry's search feature in about four seconds. I decided to work them using Jo Sharp DK left over from Susan's ruana, in a simple color pattern I charted myself. The extra-long cuffs are a handsome feature–no snow is going to get past them, and it snows a great deal in northern New England.

I didn't have Abigail's hand measurements. I couldn't ask for them without spoiling the surprise. I realized I'd have to trust the pattern, and sneak in a fitting after I got to Maine.

Flash forward to a few days before Christmas. With both parents safely at work, my mother and I sat Abigail down to try on her gift. They fit. Delight all around. Abigail waved her warm, woolen hands cheerfully in the air and said a new word: mittens.

I was still working the two-color I-cord on the sly, and whenever Abigail caught me in flagrante me she'd say "Unka Fwank. Knit. Yarn. Mittens!" Or she'd walk into the upstairs bathroom, where we'd done the washing and blocking and trying-on, and say, "Mittens!" Or she'd see somebody on television wearing mittens and say, "Mittens. Knit. Unka Fwank!"

On Christmas Eve, I wrapped up the box in snowman paper. "Unka Fwank, Mittens!" said Abigail. "Present!"

"Listen, honeybunch," I whispered. "Let's try to keep that just between us for another twenty-fours, shall we?"

"Present!" screamed Abigail.

Abigail was fascinated by the presents. They were probably what she remembered most about last year, her first Christmas, when she'd just learned to get around the living room by rolling over. The first place she rolled to was the Christmas tree, and the first thing she did was grab a package and start ripping.

This year, being 19 months old and ambulatory, she had been warned sternly to keep clear of the tree. The presents underneath, furthermore, were not to be touched. She'd often wander over to them and stare longingly, but if she extended so much as a finger a voice would bark, "Abigail! Don't touch the presents under the tree!"

And she'd dutifully back away, leaving the glittering pile undisturbed.

Her mittens were the last gift I wrapped, and I was about to add them to the heap when somebody called me to help with something urgent in the kitchen. In my haste, I left the box on the table next to the sofa.

About half an hour later, arranging cookies on a platter, I heard a jubilant squeak followed by the sound of Phil asking, "Hey! Where did you get those?"

We had said over and over not to touch the presents under the tree. We had said nothing about presents sitting around on tables. Abigail (whose father, I might add, is a lawyer) must have decided she was safe on a technicality.

What the heck. It was Christmas Eve. And I got an early present myself, which was watching her parade around in them, refusing to take them off, fully engulfed in a flood of Mitten Joy.

You know what this is a picture of? This is a picture of a kid whose uncle will be happy to knit her a cream-colored pony and a stable to put it in if she wants one.

Hi, Fwank! I'm going to delurk after months of enjoying your blog to tell you how much I enjoy getting to glimpse your life now and then through your words. (I'm a quilter, not a knitter, so I'm getting a little nervous now about peeping out from under my fat-quarter stash). So THANK YOU for casting purls before swine and allowing me to share in Abigail's Christmas joy. It makes me want to learn to knit...or eat schnitzel with noodles. --Ashley from GA

This must have been the year of living mittenly. My 3 year old granddaughter ask specifically for three pair and I gladly knit them up...even though the last pair arrived just after the holiday. She was so excited to get a package of mittens in the mail you would have though she had won the publisher's clearinghouse sweepstakes. Excellent mittens Uncle Frank. Huge Uncle points.

When I opened your post, I made that kind of breath-taken Ahhhh in appreciation for the perfect mitten: beautiful yet useful with those fabulous long cuffs. (Since I grew up in Wisconsin, I'm not positive which made me gasp, the colorwork or the cuffs.)

That is why the only people I knit for very much other than myself are children, especially the grands. My oldest grandson was about that age when he began to ask about my knitting (I mostly knit socks & always have them with me). So I finally asked if he would like me to knit something for him & we decided on a hat (the free Elann Dubelmossa style hat knit from sock yarn- a great pattern - goes very quickly even though it's knit on size 3 needles). I finished it in August & gave it to him. Well he wore it around for several hours in the 80°+ weather. We finally had to insist that he take it off because of the sweat running down his face. Every child I've ever knit for has reacted that way (I also knit that hat for my niece's children for Christmas a few years ago & they reacted the same way - running all over the house saying "Look what Aunt D knitted for me!")

Franklin, it sounds like Abigail has you right where she wants you! I've got a couple of little nieces like that, too. Enjoy her while she's young - once puberty sets in, nothing is ever the same with girls!!!XOXOXOXMaria in NY

Those are fabulous, and what a great reaction! Wait until she discovers hand-knit socks, though. My then-three-and-a-half-year old nephew saw me knitting and asked for a pair (red. up to my knees.); fourteen months later, I'm on pair #9. His reaction makes it totally worth the time and effort, though!

My parents used to wrap dog bones and put them under the tree (along with our presents). Our dog Chip would sniff them out, then proceed to growl at anyone coming towards the tree and his precious bones.Now I think they partly did that as a security device--they always knew if we were trying to snoop at the gifts!

Having a kid who looks so adorable in Unka's knittin' is a real treat. Having a kid who LOVES Unka's knittin'? PRICELESS! I can hardly believe how CUTE she is, when I'd have thought she couldn't possible get cuter, a year ago.

Awww. Beautiful child, beautiful mittens. Total cuteness overload. I didn't realize that your niece is only couple of months older than my son. Now I need to knit him a pair of mittens too. Poor child, I have been pulling his coat sleeves to cover his hand because the kid didn't have any mittens. Terrible mom and I need to rectify that. Any chance you can share the color work chart? ThanksDelurk also to say that I really enjoy your blog. Your book is the first non-technical knitting books that I throughouly enjoyed and would consider buying. I have a very small, tiny book budget and have been very selective on what I buy. You are geeky, in a good way :)

I'm in the coffee shop, listening to Joni Mitchell singing "Little Green" on pandora.com and reading your post. I'm glad no one sees the tears in my eyes so I don't have to explain how mittens on a little girl I don't know knit by a man I don't know (except through his writing and photography and the slanderous asides from an angry sheep) could make me weepy.

oh, i must also say that you're the first blogger that i didn't unsub from when they got into posting baby pictures a lot (mind you, i have 4 kids). you write them in such a way that i actually LOOK FORWARD to abigail posts!

I designed and knit Nascar socks for my nephews last year, at their request! (To say that associating me with Nascar is...interesting...is an understatement. But I love the little beasts, what can I say?)

I believe that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would like to speak with you about that little matter of Delores trying to climb up his pants leg just as he was administering the Oath of office to president Obama. He was clearly so flustered he couldn't get the words out. If I were you, I would lay low a few days.

I've found with my children that the gifts they remember the best are the ones that are given to them "out of turn"...like 6 month late Christmas gifts sent by my sister last year, or a sweater knitted for them in the middle of fall, etc. Children are cool that way. :)

De-Lurking to let you know in my house those would be called "Automatic Mittens".

Here's why: I grew up in a 'burb of Chicago, where if you lost your mitten in winter it really mattered. In 1961 my mother got a phone call from a mother in my sister's kindergarten class wanting my Mom to tell her what automatic mittens where, because her daughter was begging for some for her birthday.

It seems that this girl loved my sisters mittens to distraction and the mom could not figure out what they were, much less where to get them. My mom was quite amused, because mittens on "special strings" had to be marketed to us as "automatic mittens" because somehow those were cool, and not baby-ish, like those that clipped onto your cuff or just had plain string and no nifty name. Also, ours always had extra long cuffs, including all of the ones I have knit for my kids. Mom was a genius.

Abigail is a lucky little girl to get such fabulous hand knit automatic mittens, created by an uncle who obviously is crazy about her. Be prepared to knit her mittens forever, because now that she knows the joys of hand knitted mittens, the store bought ones will never be good enough.

Final thought: when she gets into high school, double layer mittens will be needed for the football games, in her school colors, of course.

yay! I was a mitten knitting factory most of December as I knit mittens for *7* nieces and nephews and my own daughter.

Everyone was tickled with their mittens, even if the adults were a little miffed that *their* holiday presents were to be delayed (6 adult presents down, 5 to go, fortunately, they don't mind getting easy care, chunky knit items).

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